


wooden swords and paper shields

by SoVeryAverageMe



Series: Sometimes You Just Clique [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: (like actual platonic bed sharing and not "platonic" bed sharing), Alternate Universe - High School (American), Bokuto's mood swings, CAPTAIN SQUAD, Class President!Daichi - Freeform, Found Family, Friendship, Friendship Harem, Gen, Insecurity, Jock!Bokuto, Nerd!Kuroo, Pining, Platonic "I Love Yous", Platonic Cuddling, Platonic Relationships, Platonic bed sharing, Pre-Slash, Punk!Kenma, RichKid!Oikawa, Self-Doubt, Skype chat, Supportive!Friends, platonic clothes sharing, protective!friends, self-indulgent fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-01
Updated: 2018-02-05
Packaged: 2018-10-13 18:08:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10519062
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoVeryAverageMe/pseuds/SoVeryAverageMe
Summary: Sometimes Kuroo wishes he could go back in time to when was able pine over pudding-haired, punk kids in peace. Back when he spent all his free time running the science club and avoiding bullies in the halls. It's certainly not easy being friends with a rather... unexpected group of high schoolers who don't know how to mind their own business.Somehow though... Kuroo doesn't think he'd want it any other way.tl;dr: 24 hours in the life of Kuroo Tetsurou.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I literally don't know what this story is about anymore. It was supposed to be a short pining fic and now it's the the jumping off point for an elaborate high school au, featuring tons of platonic captain squad.
> 
> Beta'd by the wonderful [Pugglemuggle](http://pugglemuggle.tumblr.com/) and [lacksley](http://lacksley.tumblr.com/).

“You’re staring again bro.” Kuroo tenses in surprise at the sudden voice behind him. He feels a hand ruffle through his messy hair and pat him on the shoulder before a bulky mass settles in the seat beside him, lunch tray clattering on the table.

“Hey Bo,” Kuroo says, pulling his eyes away from the far corner of the cafeteria to look at his friend, “How’s it going?”

“Ugh,” Bo sighs dramatically while slipping off his Varsity jacket. At Kuroo’s curious look he explains, “Morning practice. Coach is pushing us harder than ever with playoffs coming up.”

“Bo-chan~,” a familiar and distinctive voice says, “That’s no way for the football captain to be speaking.” Oikawa Tooru slides into the dingy plastic seat across from them with far more grace than should be allowed while dumping his designer messenger bag into the chair beside him.

“It’s just a lot of pressure, you know?” Bokuto says. Kuroo sees Oikawa’s eyes soften in understanding while Bokuto attempts to steal a fry from his tray.

“Well, when you win the game on Friday you can hold the after-party at my house.” Oikawa offers, while half-heartedly knocking Bo’s hand away.

Bokuto’s eyes light up hearing that he can hold a party at Oikawa’s mansion, before being tempered with concern, “Are you sure, Oiks?” Kuroo’s concerned too; Oikawa has always been careful with his privacy, especially when it comes to showing off and sharing his wealth.

“Of course, Bo-chan!” Oikawa says with a bright smile plastered on his face. He looks down with slight hesitation while Kuroo and Bokuto continue to stare at him. “But… only for the team.” He looks up as if he’s nervous about their reactions, but only gets smiles in return.

Bokuto reaches across the table and places his hand on Oikawa’s shoulder and with genuine sincerity says, “That’s really generous of you. Thanks for clarifying.”

Oikawa attempts to give his signature holier-than-though smirk, but both of them can see the the genuine relief and smile at the edges of it, “Of course Testu-chan and—”

“I think that Oikawa just wants to see his “Iwa-chan” again,” the final member of their group interrupts while settling into the seat next to Oikawa.

“Oooh,” Kuroo teases, “and where has Mr. President been all this time?”

“Yes, Dai-chan. Perhaps it has something to do with your silver-haired Romeo?” Daichi’s cheeks are tinged pink with embarrassment, while Bokuto lets out a deep belly laugh.

Kuroo feels the eyes of the cafeteria turn towards their eclectic group and hears the whispers of gossip bubble up in conversations. Their school was so stratified along archaic lines into cliques out of some stereotypical high school movie that their group was still an attraction to the rest of the student body. Kuroo will never forget the looks they got the first time they sat together. You would have thought that they’d just killed a man in broad daylight if the looks of shock and gasps of disbelief were anything to go by.

Kuroo’s eyes can’t help but drift back to the far corner of the cafeteria where he catches a head of hair turning away from the commotion they caused.  

He turns away from his observations and sees that Oikawa is picking at the edge of his crème-colored sweater. Kuroo knows that although he’s the one that pretends to care the least about what their classmates think of them, in actuality he’s the one that cares the most.

“Oiks, is that a new pin?” Kuroo asks nodding to the little alien head that adorns the neckline of his sweater.

“You noticed Tetsu-chan!” Oikawa exclaims, distracting himself from the eyes, “It’s an exclusive run of only 500 with actual meteorite dust mixed into the paint.”

“Rich Kid,” Daichi says while coughing into his hand.

Oikawa squawks in mock indignation and playfully shoves him, “Dai-chan.”

“It’s okay Oiks, we love you anyway,” Bokuto says with a small laugh. Kuroo is always a little in awe of Bokuto’s capacity to say that he loves them so easily and his ability to to read the situation. Oikawa’s still blushing when Bokuto continues, “K-Cat, the chem homework is kicking my ass. What the hell am I supposed to do with precipitates?”

“You have to look at the table in the textbook,” Kuroo replies without missing a beat.

“Wait. What? There’s a table in the textbook?” Daichi asks astounded, and even Oikawa looks intrigued. Kuroo sighs and wonders what his friends ever did without him.

“Study group after school?” Oikawa asks.

“Football Practice.”

“Student Council Meeting.”

“And Science Club,” Kuroo finishes. There’s an almost unperceivable moment in which Oikawa’s face falls before turning into a false smile. Kuroo interrupts him before he can make some self-sacrificing joke, “You should come with me.”

“Me?” Oikawa says with joking disbelief in his voice, “At Science Club. With you nerds?” Bokuto and Daichi shake their heads, used to Oikawa’s antics.

Kuroo rolls his eyes and says, “We’re trying space food today and I ordered extra.”

“Well…” Oikawa purses his lips, “since you already ordered it I guess I can bless you with my presence.”

“I’m glad that the Grand King can come to my lowly little science club,” Kuroo jokes.

“That reminds me!” Bokuto interjects, “Who were you staring at K-Cat?” Kuroo doesn’t even attempt to follow Bokuto’s leaps in logic anymore and opens his mouth to respond when he’s interrupted.

“Ooooh. Does our Tetsu-chan have his eye on someone?” Oikawa asks.

“It’s the third time this week that I’ve caught him staring at the corner of the cafeteria,” Bokuto replies. Kuroo feels his face heat up. He didn’t know that he was being that obvious.

“I’ll finally able to tease him back,” remarks Daichi. The three of them look inquiringly at Kuroo in a way that reminds him that his three best friends are the  _ worst _ .

In a stroke of luck, the bell rings.

Kuroo grabs his backpack off the floor and yells, “Shoot! Physics is meeting in the baseball field today for a lab!” He grabs his sandwich in one hand and waves with his other, “Skype study session tonight, okay?”

As he turns and starts taking long strides towards the cafeteria doors he hears, “Don’t think you’re getting away with this.” He honestly can’t tell which one of them says it and he has half a mind to think it’s all three of them. His friends are such assholes.

He doesn’t have time to ponder the situation any longer and instead concentrates on weaving through the short freshman who pack the hallways like slow-moving sardines.

He doesn’t even notice the eyes boring into his back from the far corner of the cafeteria. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I mean for Kuroo and Oikawa to talk for an entire chapter... well no, but the two of them just kept on talking anyways.
> 
> Enjoy!

“I can’t believe you ate three freeze-dried ice creams,” Kuroo says while packing away the last of the containers and storing them on a tall shelf in the chemistry classroom. The rest of the club members have already left, and although they were supposed to be supervised by a teacher, she basically let Kuroo run the club on his own.

Oikawa shrugs, licking the last of the crumbs off his perfectly manicured fingers. “You know this stuff is a lie. Astronauts don’t actually eat them.”

Kuroo rolls his eyes. “Don’t tell Lev.”

“Poor kid would be heartbroken.” Kuroo can’t really argue with that. The freshman recruit was overly excitable, if not a little naïve. He can’t complain though; the science club wasn’t really attracting any new members, so new blood was new blood.

“Hanging out with us ‘nerds’ wasn’t too bad was it?” Kuroo gives the room a once-over, making sure all the cabinets are locked and that no one has left any of their stuff behind.

Oikawa crosses his arms and tries to look uncaring, but Kuroo knows better than to believe him. “You fed me so it was alright.” He grabs his messenger bag from the back of the classroom and slings it over shoulder, “Are you ready to go yet?”

“Yeah, let me just—” Kuroo grabs the attendance sheet and his backpack from the front, and then switches off the lights, “…and done.” He holds the door open for Oikawa, locks it, and throws the keys into his back pocket.

The two of them wander down the twisting hallways and staircases to slowly make their way out of the school. Through a second story window they can see that the football team is still running drills, Bokuto among them. They also nod to Daichi, who’s carrying a large stack of posters, as they pass through the cafeteria.

As they reach the doors Oikawa turns to him. “Do you want a ride home?” he asks while twirling his car keys around his finger.

“You sure?” Kuroo always like to double-check that he’s not being too troublesome, especially with Oikawa, who’s spent far too much time pretending to be someone he’s not.

Oikawa flashes a small smile at him and softly bumps their shoulders together. “Of course Tetsu-chan. I wouldn’t have offered if I wasn’t being serious.” Kuroo just gives him a pointed look and Oikawa grimaces, “…at least not anymore.”

Kuroo just shakes his head and follows him out to the school parking lot. There weren’t that many cars left, but Oikawa’s ostentatious teal Aston Martin was parked far away from the few beat-up pick-up trucks and used sedans that remained.

Oikawa unlocked the doors and plopped his bag into the backseat. Kuroo hopped into the passenger seat, placing his backpack on his lap, while Oikawa slid sunglasses on and started the car.

Kuroo reaches over and plucked the sunglasses off his face. “Hey!” Oikawa screeched with, mostly fake, indignation.

“Oiks, it’s November and cloudy. You don’t need your—,” Kuroo flips the sunglasses over and reads the inside of frame, “Japanese handcrafted SALT sunglasses.”

Oikawa huffs and pouts while carefully navigating out of the parking lot. “Fine Testu-chan. Always ruining my fun.”

Kuroo rolls his eyes at the dramatics. “You look better in the other ones anyway,” Kuroo says with a smile.

“I look good in anything,” Oikawa retorts.

“If you say so.” Kuroo knows to end this conversation before it can get out of hand so instead he asks, “How’s calc. going?”

“Uggggghhh.” Oikawa sounds like a dying man on the verge of giving his final dramatic monologue.

“So I take it that it’s not going good.” Oikawa glares at him for the length of the red light before turning his eyes back to the road.

“If I have to do one more reverse trig. derivative I’m going to scream,” he says with utter and absolute seriousness. Kuroo giggles into his hand resulting in another patented ‘Oikawa Glare.’ “Sorry, we’re not all geniuses like you.”

Months ago that would have gotten under Kuroo’s skin, but now he can tell that the remark doesn’t have any of Oikawa’s usual bite when he’s trying to actually hit someone’s weak points.

“I’m not laughing at you, I’m just… reminiscing.”

“Reminiscing about math Tetsu-chan? That’s nerdy even by your standards,” Oikawa replies wrinkling his nose.

Kuroo huffs and smothers another laugh. “Not about  _ math _ Oiks, just about the fact that Irihata teaches reverse trig. derivatives in the most convoluted way possible.” Oikawa turns to stare at him as they pull up in front of Kuroo’s house, “I swear he adds like five unnecessary steps.”

Oikawa reaches across the console, grabs Kuroo by the collar, and pulls him close. “Are you kidding me?” he screeches, voice full of venom and exasperation.

Kuroo reacts the only way that he knows how. He looks Oikawa in the eyes, raises his hand, and boops him on the nose with a cheerful, “Nope!” Oikawa releases him and his back thumps against the seat.

He’s silent for a moment before he turns back to face Kuroo. His eyes widen, while his lips turn into a demure pout. “Tetsu-chan~,” he says making his voice go all breathy.

“Save the face for your admirers Oiks,” Kuroo says rolling his eyes, “Anyways, I got you. Like you said – I am a genius.” Kuroo tries to puff his chest out, but fails when his head hits the ceiling. They both burst out laughing.

They settle back into their seats and fall into a comfortable silence. Oikawa is the first one to break it. “Are you going to get out any time soon or are you just going to hang out in my car all night?”

He leans back into the seat more and takes a deep breath, taking in the smell of the car. “Who wouldn’t? Your car is worth more than my house anyway,” he jokes. Kuroo sees Oikawa’s hands unconsciously tighten around the wheel.

“Yeah… I—” Oikawa mutters somehow looking both defensive and kind of lost.

“Oiks,” Kuroo sighs, “I didn’t mean anything by that.”

Oikawa takes his hands of the wheel and leans back into his seat. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, before turning to Kuroo and giving him a strained smile. “I know. That’s the worst part, I know.”

“Old habits are hard to break,” Kuroo shrugs, “All of us had preconceived notions of how we saw ourselves and how others saw us, but we’re not what everyone else says we are.” Kuroo laughs, “We definitely found that out the hard way.”

Oikawa just hums unconvincingly in response.

“Oiks… Tooru, just think about how far we’ve all come since we first met.”

Oikawa somehow looks small sitting there staring up at Kuroo. A stark contrast to his usual ‘I Own the World’ attitude. “You really think so?”

“Don’t let it go to your head, it’s not just you,” Kuroo pauses and reflects for a moment, “It’s definitely all of us.”

“Don’t get all nostalgic on me Tetsu-chan.” Oikawa must be feeling a little better if his natural sass is leaking into his voice.

“I’m not,” Kuroo says laughing, “It’s just… remember when you only thought we were friends with you because of your money, or Daichi’s keys to the school, or Bokuto’s popularity, or my intelligence?”

“Shit,” Oikawa starts, “about the—”

Kuroo interrupts him before the guilty look can even settle onto his face. “If this is about the calc. homework, calm down. I know you don’t mean it like that either.”

“I guess we really have changed.”

“Ehh, it’s not perfect,” Kuroo says, thinking about all the miscommunication and insecurities that still fester despite their best efforts, “but eight months ago we could barely stand to be in the same room as each other. Now you’re driving me to the opposite side of town from your house in your ridiculous Aston Martin and offering up your mansion for one of Bo’s ragers.”

“It better not be a rager,” Oikawa replies, a hard glint in his eyes that transforms into genuine smile. “Who would’ve thought that you’d become my best friends?”

“I still don’t think that the rest of the school believes it,” Kuroo snorts.

“Awww, Testu-chan, you do care.” Oikawa gets a scheming look on his face that never ends well for the rest of them, “Since we are best friends… why don’t you tell me who you were staring at today at lunch?”

“Okay,” Kuroo says, finally unbuckling his seatbelt, “and that’s my cue to leave.”

“Come on Testu-chan~” Oikawa whines, “pleeeeease.” Kuroo swears that half of Oikawa’s bullshit reputation as a spoiled rich kid is built on his ability to act like a petulant brat.

“God knows how much I’m going to be grilled about it tonight,” he says, “have a little patience.”

“Fine…” he huffs, disappointed.

Kuroo reaches over and ruffles Oikawa’s hair and feels Oikawa start to instinctively pull away from it. “Come on Oiks. It’s not like anyone else is going to see you today.” Oikawa sighs, mulling it over, and then relaxes into the touch. “And people say I’m the cat,” Kuroo muses.

“It’s the hair.” Oikawa says scrunching up his nose in fake disdain. Kuroo gives him one last forceful hair ruffle before swinging his legs out of the car and pulling his backpack on behind him

“Don’t forget about Skype tonight,” he calls out before slamming the door. He sees Oikawa laugh through the window and watches as he speeds off around the corner. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to the chapter in which I decided that everyone needed a character arc or allusions to their backstories.
> 
> I've officially run out of pre-written chapters, because I haven't been writing much lately, so if the fic doesn't update in the next couple weeks it's because I literally haven't written it yet. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

[Yesterday]

**Spacekawa:** its aliens,, fite me

**_LoveKnuckles_** _’s nickname was changed to **Brokuto**_

**Brokuto:** awwww i kinda liked that one

**ThePrez:** some of us are trying to sleep…

[7:48PM]

**Brokuto** : going to take a quick shower and then video chat time!!!!!!!

**Spacekawa:** hows it possible that hes still that excited about these

**ThePrez:** don’t you dare ruin his fun.

**Kuromium:** ooooooh what do say to that oiks

**ThePrez:** stop enabling him Kuroo.

**Spacekawa:** oooooooooooh what do say to that tetsu

**ThePrez:** why do i even try?

**Brokuto:** omfg someone just call already!

_Incoming call from: **Four-titude? More like Attitude…**_

Kuroo’s laptop screen flickers has he answers the call and his friends appear on screen.

Bokuto appears fresh out of the shower, still without a shirt on. His usually gelled hair is, instead, framing his face and dripping onto the towel wrapped around his neck. Daichi looks tired, as always, and is lounging on his bed, with what Kuroo assumes to be textbooks beside him. Oikawa’s changed out of his skinny jeans into a well-worn pair of NASA sweatpants and is munching away on a piece of milk bread.

“Hey, hey, hey!” Bokuto greets them amicably.

Daichi shakes his head and sighs. “You couldn’t have at least put a shirt on?”

“I don’t know Dai-chan. The view is pretty nice.” Oikawa says with a lazy smirk, and Kuroo can’t help but to agree. Bokuto grins at that, but grabs a shirt just off camera. Has he slips it on, he stretches a little more than necessary to flash them one more view of his chest, before settling down in front of the camera.

Daichi shouts goodbye to someone off screen, and they can hear a door slam shut. “My mom and sister are going out to a movie,” he explains.

“You didn’t want to go with them?” Kuroo asks. He’s usually so busy that he tries to make as much time for his family as possible.

“Nah. I thought I’d try to get some homework done in the peace and quiet.”

“Plus, this means that you get to hang out with us!” Bokuto says, but then quickly backtracks, “…not that spending time with your family isn’t good or anything.”

“I think he get’s it Bo-chan.” Bokuto sticks his tongue out at Oikawa and Oikawa doesn’t hesitate to do it right back, like a small child.

Kuroo knows he has to take control now or nothing will get done tonight. “What’s on the homework agenda, my friend-os?”

He’s been appointed the leader of homework sessions since the beginning, the rest of them saying that “Real genius is being able to teach your dumb friends how to pass.” Which he’s always argued is inaccurate on multiple counts: a) he’s not a genius, he just good at school. There’s a difference. b) his friends are not “dumb.” and c) No friends of his were going to merely “pass.”

“Reverse trig. derivatives. Pleeeeeease,” screeches Oikawa, “Save me from Irihata.”

“I have no clue what Oiks is on about, but I need help with regular trig. identities,” Bokuto says while Oikawa continues to beg. “Oiks and I also have a worksheet on precipitates due for chem.”

“Fuck,” Oikawa moans, “I forgot about that.”

“I have pre-lab for advanced chem. and we also both have that reading due for English,” Daichi chimes in.

“Okay…” Kuroo says thinking, “I also have a post-lab for physics due.”

“What’s the plan our fearless captain in the ocean that is our academic careers?” Bokuto asks while the other two give him mock salutes.

“I’ll teach a crash course on precipitates and Daichi can start his pre-lab. It’s the titration lab, right?”

Daichi fumbles around and grabs a worksheet from under a notebook, “Yeah, calculating the concentration of NAOH with…”

“—with HCl,” finishes Kuroo, “Don’t forget to factor in the indicators.” Daichi nods and makes a note to himself. “While you guys work on that, I’ll finish my physics lab. Afterwards, I’ll cover reverse trig. derivatives for Oiks, and Daichi can go over trig identities with Bo. Then while you’re working on the problem sets, we can do the English reading.” Kuroo’s pleased that it all fits together today. Sometimes they end up trying to work on six projects simultaneously, with no actual work getting done.

Kuroo breezes through the instruction of precipitates, which is made much easier when he’s able to point them towards the table in the textbook and begins his pre-lab. Every so often one of them will ask a question to him or each other, but they work in relative and comfortable silence. His productive vibe isn’t broken until he hears Bokuto ask a question that’s not even directed towards him.

“Are you okay Oiks?” Bokuto asks, moving the textbook off his lap to lean closer to the camera.

Kuroo turns his attention away from his pre-lab to see Oikawa finish rubbing his eyes. He looks up from the math problem he was trying to work out and smiles. “I’m fine Bo-chan. Just a little tired.”

Bo hums in response, but still looks at Oikawa suspiciously. “Your eyes are a little red. You haven’t been crying have you?” Kuroo asks, now worried about his friend.

“Testu-chaaaan,” Oikawa says, “Don’t worry so much. I’m fine.” Kuroo can’t help but notice that even has he says this his hand rubs unconsciously at his eyes.

Daichi finally notices their conversation, pulled away from the engrossing world of advanced chemistry. “Ermph. What’s going on?” he asks while shaking his head to clear his vision of the floating elements and chemical chains dancing in front of his eyes.

“Nothing Dai-cha—”

“Something’s up with Oiks’ eyes.” Kuroo interrupts before Oikawa can blow this off and pretend it never happened.

Daichi’s eyes harden as he stares at the screen. The weight of his gaze is tempered by the digital medium, but they’re still powerful enough to make Oikawa squirm. “How long have you had your contacts in?”

Oikawa rolls his eyes, which just draws attention to the fact that even with their shitty laptop webcams, his eyes look red. “You know that I usually wear them until I go to sleep.” He then goes back to doing his homework, pretending that they don’t exist like the stubborn ass he is.

The three of them share a look, glancing at Oikawa’s corner of the screen, while trying to telepathically communicate with one another. Daichi gives an exasperated shrug, while Bokuto points at Oikawa and does some incoherent hand movements. Kuroo just tilts his head in confusion.

Oikawa was just about impossible when he didn’t want to cooperate. The three of them sigh and deciding to cut their losses, went back to their homework. After a few minutes of working in rigid silence, Bokuto slammed his hand on his text book.

“Aaah!” Bokuto screams. The three of them looked up at him in surprise, where he was giving Oikawa an accusing stare, “You had that breakfast thing this morning with your Father.”

The excitement drains away from his face as fast as it came. “Shit. Oiks… you had…” Bokuto whispers. Oikawa looks down at his hands, while the three of them sit helplessly silent.

“I can’t believe we forgot about it,” Kuroo mutters. Bokuto looks has if he’s about to hug his screen in an effort to give Oikawa any small bit of comfort he can. The boy in question refuses to look up at the screen and is still gently rubbing his eyes.

“Okay. First things first,” Daichi says taking control in the voice that reminds them all how he became the youngest class president in the history of their school, “Oikawa take out your contacts and put on your glasses.”

“I don’t—” Oikawa starts, looking up. He goes silent at the look Daichi levels at him, sniffling and rubbing his eyes like a small child.

“Oikawa…” Daichi warns, but Oikawa doesn’t make any indication of moving.

Bokuto’s lips purse in thought, before he lights up with an idea. “Would it help if we all had glasses too?” he asks with unexpected brightness for the situation.

“You guys don’t—” before Oikawa can finish Bokuto’s already got up and is rummaging through his room, “…wear glasses.”

Bokuto returns with a pair of oversized ski goggles which he unceremoniously plops over his eyes. Kuroo sees the beginnings of a smile bloom onto Oikawa’s face. Daichi just shrugs at him through the camera before they both get up and start rummaging for makeshift glasses.

Kuroo slips an old pair of cardboard solar eclipse glasses over his face, before making his way back to his laptop. He returns just in time to see Daichi put on a pair of his sister’s Barbie sunglasses that are about two sizes too small.

“See,” Bokuto says, “now you’re the only one _not_ wearing glasses.” He crosses his arms and looks incredible proud of himself, but much of the affect is lost when the goggles slid down his face.

Oikawa can’t help but to giggle at the sight. “You guys…” he says while shaking his head, color slowly returning to his cheeks.

“Nope. Nope,” Bokuto says clicking his tongue, “This is a glasses only chat now. Isn’t that right Dai?”

Daichi snorts before assuming a serious face, playing along. “Why yes, Bokuto. I think it has been decreed that this chat is now for glasses-wearers only.”

“Guys…” laughter mixed with exasperation leaking into his voice, “you don’t even wear glasses.”

“Did you guys hear something?” Both Daichi and Bokuto shake their heads no, and Kuroo proceeds to grab his cardboard glasses and flips them upside down on his head, “If only we had some type of glasses expert to show us the way.”

“I bet if we did, they would be a total nerd.”

“Definitely, but the best type of nerd,” Kuroo adds.

“Incredibly generous too,” Daichi says, “even if they act like a stubborn brat sometimes.”

Oikawa groans. “You are all the worst.” He sighs and flashes a small smile at the camera before he gets up and goes out of frame. He returns a few minutes later with his contact case and solution. His hand reaches up towards his eyes.

“Ewwww,” Bokuto screeches, raising a hand to shield his eyes, “I don’t want to see you poking at your eyes.” Daichi laughs uncontrollably.

“Just close your eyes Bo. I’ll tell you when he’s done,” Kuroo says, while trying to smother a laugh himself. Daichi finally manages to control his laughter while Oikawa takes his contacts out and places them in the case. He rubs his eyes one last time and slips his glasses on his nose. “’Kay Bo, the coast is clear of eye poking.”

“Are you sure?” he asks, while slowly sliding his hand off the goggles.

“Yes Bo-chan~,” Oikawa smirks, “I’ve finally joined the glasses squad.” Bokuto hoots in joy and pumps his fist in celebration, as if he didn’t just make up the ‘glasses squad’ ten minutes ago.

They sit there grinning like fools for several minutes, before one of them finally brings up the elephant in the room.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Daichi asks. Oikawa hunches his shoulders and picks at the cuff of his sweater. Kuroo shares a look with Bokuto, while Daichi stares at him pensively. “It’s okay if you don’t.”

“Yeah, Oiks,” Bokuto smiles, “I know this stuff is hard to talk about.” Oikawa finally looks up at them, and nods in understanding.

Kuroo’s glad to see that his hands have returned to his lap. “We’re here for you if you need us.”

“Thanks guys.” Oikawa gives a small, soft smile that slowly morphs into a muted version of his usual swagger, “Enough about me. How was the student council meeting, Dai-chan~?”

Daichi observes Oikawa for a moment more before he closes his eyes and pinches the bridge of his nose. He let’s out a deep breath that could easily be mistaken for a groan.

“That bad, huh?”

“Freshmen.” Daichi utters that single word with more bitterness than Kuroo’s ever heard from him.

“It’s about time you get yourself some troublesome freshman,” Kuroo cackles, “I’ve been dealing with Lev and Inuoka the entire year. Not to mention Bo’s troubles with that freshman quarterback.”

“Kogane’s just green,” Bokuto argues, “He’s going to be a great quarterback.”

“Last time he tried passing, he passed straight into his face,” Oikawa laughs, “How is that even possible?”

Bokuto stutters and tries to defend the poor freshman. Everyone in school had heard about how their promising young quarterback had gone for an end zone pass and instead it had bounced off the goalpost and rocketed back towards him.

“I’m pretty sure it actually defied the laws of physics,” Kuroo says trying to calculate the odds of hitting a four-inch pole at the _exact_ right angle to be reflected back at the person who threw it.

“Stop being a nerd, Tetsu-chan~.”

Kuroo tries to glare at Oikawa through the solar eclipse glasses, “I wasn’t!”

“We could practically see the numbers running through your head,” Daichi laughs.  

“K-Cat’s always a nerd though,” Bokuto says, “More importantly, tell us all about your freshman troubles, Dai.”

He lets out a wail. “I don’t even think that Yahaba had this much trouble when trying to talk to that running back of yours, Bokuto.”

“Don’t try to get out this by bringing up Mad-Dog-chan.” Oikawa places his chin on his hand and leans forward, “We want _all_ the details.”

“Fine.” Daichi lets out a breath, “it’s these two homeroom reps that won’t stop fighting with each other.”

“They can’t be that bad. Lev almost blew up the chemistry lab.”

“They consider each other ‘destined rivals,’” Daichi explains, “They nearly started a food fight today at student council.”

“Ooh, sounds like something we should do Bo,” Kuroo smirks.

“Hell yeah! Parking lot at dawn?”

Kuroo finger guns back at him, but slowly places his hands in his lap after he notices a stern look from Daichi. “Not on my watch you two. I have enough trouble with the rest of the school.”

“We could always swap freshman,” Bokuto offers.

“I’m sure that Lev and Inuoka would love to be on student council.”

Daichi stares at them in silence. “I rather keep the freak duo rather than deal with the explosion fiends. Plus, I don’t think that Kindaichi and Kogane would leave football. They admire Iwaizumi’s arms too much.”

Oikawa just laughs at their collective pain. “You do have to admit that Iwa-chan’s arms are positively to die for.”

“I wouldn’t laugh if I were you. Someday you’ll run a big, fancy business and have a plethora of annoying interns to deal with,” Daichi warns.

“Yeah!” Bokuto proclaims, “and they’ll be _us_.”

Oikawa gives Bokuto a confused look, while Kuroo tries to copy Oikawa’s smirk. “Don’t doubt what we’ll do out of spite.”

“I reiterate what I said before: you are all the worst.”

Kuroo laughs before regaining control, “Okay guys…” He raises his hands to placate his friends, “We have to get back to homework.” He accidentally knocks the cardboard glasses on his face, “Everyone take off your glasses. No, not you Oikawa,” he says pointing sternly at him before the other boy can move, “and get back to work on… whatever you were working on.”

Oikawa and Bokuto go back to working out their respective math problems, but Daichi stops him before he can return to the tedium of post-lab. “Kuroo, can you explain equivalence points to me? The pre-lab is being super vague about them.”

“Sure thing Mr. Prez.” Daichi rolls his eyes, but begins trying to explain where he’s stuck. Oikawa and Bokuto begin bouncing ideas off each other for the solution of a tricky net ionic reaction problem.

A comfortable silence falls as they begin to work on their individual work and Kuroo can’t help but to smile… before returning to answering asinine questions about calculating trajectory.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The studying continues, until they're interrupted by one of Bokuto's mood swings. It's a good things that the rest of the boys have a lot of patience, support, and love to give him. 
> 
> Also: The boys finally learn about Kuroo's crush (embarrassing him in the process, ofc).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been like a year, but I'm finally updating this fic (the epilogue should take a lot less than a year to write). 
> 
> I forgot how much I love this universe, so I'm really glad to be able to come back to it. (And yes... there a still way too elaborate plans for this series)
> 
> Hope you all enjoy this chapter!

Kuroo prides himself at the smooth transition between part one and part two of his homework plan. Oikawa and Bokuto are tapping away at their calculators and muttering numbers to themselves, while trying to get through their respective problem sets. He and Daichi are attempting to get through their dry English reading, although Kuroo can’t understand why their English teacher assigned them the work of some old German philosopher that's more suited to a graduate-level philosophy class.

The four of them work in silence, comforted by page flips, pencil scratches, and the steadiness of each others’ breathing. Then, Bokuto wails, and the quiet atmosphere is broken. “Ugggggggh.” He places his forehead on his desk, “I’m never going to get this.”

Kuroo marks the page in his book, grateful for the excuse to stop reading, “What do you need help with?”

He just moans in response, “Why does it matter? I’m too dumb to understand it anyways.” Daichi and Oikawa shoot each other a worried look, both their attentions drawn to the situation. “See? Now I’m just distracting everybody else too.”

“Bo-chan,” Oikawa sing songs, “You’re not a distraction.” He says it in his usual chipper voice, but there’s an edge of seriousness and worry hidden under his smile.

“It’s just that you guys are all so smart.” Bokuto sighs, “I hate feeling like you always have to slow down for me.”

“We’re not slowing down for you,” Daichi assures, “We’re all just working forward at our own pace.”

“You’re keeping up with me in history, and I’m pretty sure you might be better than Oiks at chem.” Kuroo smirks at Oikawa to show that he means no offense, and he just lets out an indignant whine in return.

Bokuto looks up at them and sighs, rubbing the back of his head. “I just feel so dumb all the time. You guys are always doing your advance math and I’m just here trying to do things that you can all do in your sleep.” He slumps down on his desk, his body curling in on itself, “Everyone’s right about me.”

“Kou.” There is a sharpness in Oikawa’s voice that Kuroo rarely hears, especially around them (at least… not anymore). Bokuto looks up at him through the webcam. “You are not stupid. Or dumb. Or any of the other things that people say about you.”

Bokuto looks as if he wants to interject, but Daichi interrupts before he can. “He’s right.” His voice is soft as if he’s trying to calm a spooked animal, “You’re kind and never fail to make me smile.”

“Bo, you’re nothing like what _they_ say you are.” Kuroo replies, “None of them know you like we do.”

“Plus, Bo-chan. You’re brilliant at football,” Oikawa smiles, “Your entire team trusts you, and you’ve never let them down.”

Bokuto just seems to curl in on himself more. “I haven’t let them down _yet,”_ he whispers, practically in tears. “But I will. I always let everybody down in the end.”

The moment hangs over them, all of them sitting in shocked silence. Moments pass, before they all start to shout at the same time, but Bokuto freezes on the screen, his audio cuts out, and his video feed blinks into black. The three of them fall back into silence, while their computers rearrange their images to make up for the empty space.

Almost has one, they jump into action. “Shit,” Kuroo says, rubbing his eyes, “he hasn’t had a mood this bad in a while.”

“I’ll try calling him back,” Daichi says, hitting some buttons on his laptop. The three of them sit listening to the blooping and beeping of the outgoing video call ring into cyberspace.

He doesn’t answer.

They stare at each other, worried looks etched onto their faces. “What do we do now?” Kuroo asks. Their silence is thick, all of the ideas they think of seem so utterly useless.

They sit in silence for over five minutes, comforted by the sounds of each other’s breathing, but incredibly worried for their friend. Kuroo tries to distract himself by scrolling through Facebook on his phone, Daichi is mindlessly tapping his pencil against his laptop, and Oikawa is squeezing an alien-head shaped stress ball.

Everyone simultaneously looks up at the buzz of Oikawa’s phone. They know immediately who it is by the look of relief on his face and the sigh that he let’s out when reading the text.

“He’s okay.” Oikawa leads with, and Kuroo feels the built up stress disappear as he collapses back in his chair. “He apologizes for hanging up, but he just has a lot of feelings right now. He didn’t know how to handle them all at once.”

“It’s ‘cause he’s got too big of heart,” Kuroo jokes, but his voice is choked with emotion.

“Thank heavens he remembered to text one of us,” Daichi says, reminding Kuroo of previous times when they didn’t have any way of making sure Bokuto was okay after one of his mood swings.

Oikawa’s phone buzzes again and he purses his lips in thought as he reads it. “I’m going to go pick him up. He’s going to stay with me for the night.” He gets up to start finding his jacket and keys, while also scrounging around for a proper pair of pants to change into.

“How are you going to explain this to his parents?" Daichi questions, while nervously wringing his hands. “You’re showing up at 10:30 on a school night to have a sleepover with their son.”

Oikawa rolls his eyes. “His dad works for mine and thinks I’m Tooru ‘Golden Boy’ Oikawa.” His face scrunches up in distaste, “My reputation might give me hell sometimes, but at least it’ll give me this.” He finishes finding his stuff and flashes them a self-deprecating smile.

Before he can hang up, Kuroo interrupts. “You should keep us connected, so we know what’s going on.” Daichi bites his lips, but doesn’t disagree, still worried about Bokuto.

“What do you want me to do?” With a tangible plan in place, Oikawa’s trademark sarcasm starts to return, “Am I supposed to just leave my phone on so you can hear everything?”

Kuroo just raises a single eyebrow. “You said it, not me.”

“You’re so lucky I have an unlimited phone plan.” Oikawa sighs. “I’ll call Kuroo, and you can stay on the video call with Daichi so everyone can hear.” He gives them a soft glare, “I’m only doing this because I think it will help Bo-chan in the end.”

With that, Oikawa hangs up his end of the call. Kuroo watches has Daichi’s feed fills up the entire screen, leaving the two of them alone.

“We’re so whipped for each other,” Daichi says, abrubtly breaking the silence. Kuroo bursts out into laughter at the usually stoic class president’s response. It makes him truly smile for the first time since Bokuto hung up. Daichi’s cheeks are flushed red, “You tell no one I said that.”

Kuroo just rolls his eyes and smirks in response, which has Daichi sighing with his head in his hands. Minutes later, Kuroo’s phone rings. He answers it and puts it speaker so that both of them can hear.

“I’ll take my phone off speaker once I get there, but you’ll still have to be quiet to make sure that no one hears you.” There’s some unidentified rustling on Oikawa’s end of the phone call. “Do you remember which exit is closest to his house?”

Daichi, the only other car owner in their group, answers immediately, “45 is the closest, but you have to make that weird right turn at the six-way intersection that we always feel is going to kill us someday.”

“Right, so…” Oikawa trails off, and Kuroo hears his car blinker, “I’m going to take 46 then.” For some reason he sounds nervous.

Kuroo shares a look with Daichi, who rolls his eyes, used to Oikawa’s fluctuating insecurity. “You’re a good friend too, Oikawa. Bo wouldn’t have texted you if he didn’t trust you.”

“It’s not like he had another option.” Kuroo could imagine him biting his lips in anxiousness, “Dai-chan lives on the opposite side of town, and you don’t own a car.”

“Oikawa—” Daichi says, quirking his lips up in a sad smile, “You’re the most confident, insecure person I know.” He pauses to let the statement settle. “You’re also one of my best friends.”

It is times like these that Kuroo is so grateful for Daichi’s genuine, straightforward honesty. Oikawa iss always more likely to listen to him than Kuroo’s attempts at compliments through positive sarcasm and nerd references.

Oikawa gives a laugh, sounding lighter than before. “We’ll save my problems for later.” The engine shuts off, “I just pulled into Bo-chan’s house.”

“Good luck.”

“Yeah,” Kuroo agrees, “Go get our boy back.”

“Talk to you on the other side.” They hear Oikawa get out of the car, and then everything is muffled has he takes the phone off speaker and shoves it into his jacket pocket. He’s whistling the tune that Bokuto’s been playing non-stop at lunch for the past week.

Kuroo and Daichi share a smile across the screen. They hear Oikawa ringing the doorbell and knocking on the door. It’s almost as if the two of them can feel the change in the air when the door is opened, and they exchange nervous glances across the screen.

“Hello, Mrs. Bokuto!” Daichi grimaces at his tone of voice. It’s so obviously fake that Kuroo’s disappointed that he ever thought it was genuine. The voice is always accompanied by the smile that made Oikawa’s eyes look a little dead. Kuroo catches Daichi’s eyes in the camera and makes a gagging motion, causing him to muffle his laugh in his hand.

“Tooru!” Bokuto’s mother doesn’t seem to notice the mask that Oikawa is putting on, “What are you doing here, Dear?”

A new voice cuts in, “Who’s at the door, Honey?”

“It’s Tooru. Tooru Oikawa.” She calls back.

“Ah, my boy. How is your father doing?” Bokuto’s father asks, now clearly closer to the door.

“He’s well. I believe he’s just about to close a major deal for the company.” Kuroo and Daichi share a worried look at how his voice is, almost unperceivably, tighter.

“You’ll be doing the same when you take over as CEO someday. Everyone at work talks about how you’re the perfect heir to the company.” Daichi looks as if he wants to bang his head on his computer in exasperation at Bokuto’s father's single-minded focus on business.

“Well,” Kuroo hears the armor of haughtiness in Oikawa’s response, “I’m so glad that his employees have faith in me, but I didn’t come here to talk about business.”

“Of course, what are you here for?” Bokuto’s mother asks, reentering the conversation after the work talk was over.

“I imagine there’s much more important things for you to be doing right now than driving all the way out here.” Kuroo almost wants to walk out at hearing the response, but stays because his worry for Bokuto supersedes his frustration.

Oikawa’s response is full of false, saccharine sweetness, “Actually, I’m here to pick up Koutarou. We had plans tonight for him to stay over tonight, and it totally slipped my mind.”

“That’s so sweet of you. I’ll go get him.” They hear his mom shuffling away from the door and retreat further into the house.

“How’s Koutarou doing in school?” his dad probes.

“He’s very popular and well-liked by the student body. Plus, everyone’s pumped that the football team is doing so well this year. He’s doing a tremendous job at leading them.” Oikawa’s voice sounds a lot more genuine than it did earlier in the conversation.

“I wish he put as much time into schoolwork as he does into football. I mean you must be so busy training to take over the family business, but you still manage to do everything and still have time to hang out with your friends.” Kuroo and Daichi’s eyes widen in shock. He's not sure if it's because of how much pressure Bokuto's father puts on him or the fact that he seems to think that Oikawa is a carbon copy of his father.

Oikawa’s voice goes sharp, in that scary sort of possessive way, “I honestly couldn’t imagine where I would be without your son as one my friends.”

“Well, I imagine that he’s even luckier to have someone of your status and connection hanging out with him. It’s good to have someone be able to show him the ropes.” Kuroo and Daichi’s eyes meet across the screen, and they silently mouth expletives at each other.

Kuroo wishes that he could hear Oikawa’s comeback, but whatever he was going to say is interrupted by a noise from further inside the house. “Kou! Are you ready to go?” Under the fake, happy tone of his voice, lays real concern. “Do you have your stuff?”

If Bokuto answers, they can’t hear him through the phone. “Thanks so much for letting Koutarou come over tonight.”

Bokuto’s father laughs and attempts to joke, “Put in a good word with your father for me, and we’ll be even.”

Oikawa doesn’t even deign to answer that and instead just continues with his goodbyes. They hear the door slam shut. “Come on Bo-chan, my car’s in the driveway,” Oikawa’s voice is just barely picked up by the phone microphone, as if he’s scared of making anything worse.

The next thing they hear is the car door slamming shut. “That went about as well as expected,” Oikawa says and they hear the roar of an engine, “You guys are back on speaker. I’m going to start driving so we don’t make Bo-chan’s parents suspicious.”

“You guys are still here?” Kuroo hates how insecure Bokuto’s voice sounds, soft and broken, like he had truly expected the worst from them.

“Of course, Bo. We had to know you were all right.”

“Yeah, Bokuto. You said it first – we care about each other. Even if it’s not pretty and easy.”

Daichi sounds like he wants to give one of his speeches, so Kuroo cuts him off, trying to lighten the mood. “Plus, we weren’t going to let Oiks get all the credit.” Oikawa squawks in false displeasure.

“Thanks guys.” Bokuto goes quiet for the rest of the ride back to Oikawa’s house, but for the first time since everything went topsy-turvy, the silence is comfortable.

“We just arrived at my place. I’ll reconnect the video call once we get settled.” Oikawa says, waiting to hear confirmation from the two of them before hanging up.

Daichi and Kuroo spend the time waiting for the video call to reconnect by trying to get some of their remaining homework done, but they're mostly unsuccessful. It’s about ten minutes before they get the notification that Oikawa is trying to join the call.

He looks tired when he joins, but his smile his genuine. He’s clearly on his laptop, leaning against the headboard of his king-size bed. “Bo-chan’s just getting cleaned up in the bathroom.”

“How are you doing?” Kuroo asks, “That conversation wasn’t easy on you either.” He’s worried that Oikawa’s overworked himself again, trying to push past his limits too quickly to be healthy.

“It’s not like I expected it to go any better.” Oikawa sighs, his head hitting the headboard, “I know how people see me; I even revel in it sometimes.”

“I know we might not always understand, but we’re here if you want to talk about it.” Daichi says, completely unjudging of how Oikawa might use his reputation to manipulate the people around him and to protect himself.

 “I told you, we’ve had enough of my problems for today.” Oikawa looks back towards the camera and gives a wry smile, “But… maybe another day.”

They drop the topic and fall into a comfortable silence. A couple of minutes later, Bokuto comes into frame, sliding into the bed beside Oikawa. The laptop is shuffled around has the two boys try to get into a comfortable position.

Oikawa ends up cuddling into Bokuto’s side, one hand absentmindedly playing with the other’s hair, with the laptop perched between them.

“How’re you doing Bo?” Kuroo asks.

He gives a choked laugh. “I’ve been better.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” Daichi asks, running a hand through his hair. Bokuto sighs and turns away from the camera to nose at the top of Oikawa's head.

“That tickles.” Oikawa giggles, but continues petting his hair in a soothing manner. “You know we won’t force you talk. If you want to change the subject, we can.”

Bokuto takes a deep breath, and turns back to face the laptop. “I’m just... I feel…” He pauses and restarts. “It’s just a lot.”

“The team?”

“School?”

“Your parents?”

He bites his lips. “I guess… just all of it.” Bokuto shuffles around on the bed – Kuroo doesn’t know if it’s because he’s uncomfortable or nervous. “Sometimes it just feels like I’m not good enough, like I could topple at any minute. Like one little mistake and I’ll lose everything.” He looks down at his hands in guilt.

“I wish you would have told us,” Oikawa says, moving his hand down to stroke Bokuto’s arm, “but I understand you had your own reasons on why you didn’t.”

Bokuto gives a small smile and sinks lower on to the bed so he can rest his head on Oikawa’s shoulder. He closes his eyes in thought for a second before reopening them. “Thanks Oiks. For everything you’ve done tonight.”

“We’re not going to let you topple,” Kuroo says it with as much authority as he can muster, “You know that, right?” Bokuto doesn’t say anything in response. “And if something does happen? We’re going to be right here to catch you and put you back together again.”

“I think that you took that metaphor a little too far.” Bokuto laughs and after everything that’s happened, finally seeing him smile again is a breath of fresh air for the rest of the group.

“You’re good enough for us. You’re always going to be good enough for us.” Daichi says with quiet confidence. Kuroo smiles and thinks that he’s not just referring to Bokuto, but to all of them.

Bokuto starts running his hand through Oikawa’s hair and shyly looks away from the screen. “I don’t think I have enough energy to talk about it anymore tonight.”

Oikawa leans into Bokuto’s touch and sends a smirk towards the camera. “That’s okay. It means we can get to the real dirt of the night: Tetsu-chan’s crush!”

All eyes turn towards him, and he sends an annoyed glare at Oikawa. “I hate you,” he says, but he can’t quite keep the serious tone. He snorts and shakes his head, “I don’t really know that much about him.”

“But _who_ is it,” Bokuto asks, eyes wide with curiosity. He’s repositioned himself so that he can more easily look at the screen.

“Kenma. Kenma Kozume,” he says feeling his cheeks redden, “You know, the pudding head kid with the piercings, who sits in the far corner of the cafeteria? I think he’s a grade below us.”

“Ooooh~” Oikawa makes an obnoxious cooing sound. “He’s cute.”

“He’s Akaashi’s friend, right?” Daichi asks. At their curious looks he continues, “He’s friends with Yahaba, the vice president? Sometimes I see them talking after student council meetings.”

“Wait!” Bokuto interrupts, “Is Akaashi that really cute one with the dark hair and blue-ish green eyes?”

“Sounds like Tetsu-chan might not be the only one with a crush.” Oikawa nudges Bokuto with his shoulder and flashes him a teasing smile.

Bokuto pouts. “It’s not a crush!” He pauses, “I… I just see him sitting on the bleachers at practice sometimes. He always sits there and draws in his sketchbook.” Kuroo raises his eyebrows, thinking that it’s possible that Bokuto’s “not crush” might be reciprocated.

“So what do you like about Kenma~.” Daichi draws out the name in way that almost sounds childish, especially when they’re so used to the straight-laced school president. In fact, it sounds scarily like Oikawa. “What? I’ve been waiting months to get you back for all the Romeo jokes.”

Kuroo just shakes his head and tries to erase that tone of voice from his mind. “I don’t even know that much about him. He just… sometimes he stares at the rest of cafeteria like he sees something the rest of us don’t. I accidently made eye contact with him once, and I swear he was staring straight into my soul.”

He looks up when he hears an unidentifiable sound come through the screen and sees that Oikawa is wearing a wicked grin on his face. “You should invite him to the party tomorrow night.”

“Kenma doesn’t seem like the kind of guy to go to one of Bo’s football parties.” Kuroo snorts and rolls his eyes, “Plus, you said the party was just for the team.”

Oikawa scoffs. “Yeah, it’s my house and I’m saying you can invite Kenma.” He elbows Bokuto softly in the ribs. “Tell him he can bring Akaashi too. It’ll probably make him more comfortable to have someone he trusts around, plus…” he trails off throwing Bokuto a suggestive look, who just rolls his eyes and shoves him in response.

“I have to invite him?”

“That’s kind of how the whole 'getting to know someone' thing works,” Daichi says, with a smug grin on his face, “You actually have to talk to them first.”

“Where is all this sass coming from, Mr. President?” Kuroo asks.

Daichi leans back and rests his hands behind his head, “What can I say? You guys are a bad influence.”

Oikawa scoffs. “I think that he’s always been this way. We’ve just given him the excuse to let loose.”

“That’s not such a bad thing is it?” Bokuto grins before turning his attention back onto Kuroo, “Let’s talk more about Kenma. You have to invite him to the party.”

Kuroo twiddles with his fingers. “I really don’t think a party’s going to be his scene. Plus, why would he even be interested in me?”

“’Cause you’re a goddamn catch,” Oikawa says, rolling his eyes. Kuroo blushes and looks down at his lap in embarrassment.

“He’s right.” Daichi says waving his hands, “I’m spoken for, but you’ve got the whole tall, dark, and handsome thing going on.”

“You’re also like super smart, bro. Who wouldn’t want a piece of that?” Bokuto gives an exaggerated wink when Kuroo looks up.

“Not that I’m not loving the validation, but there’s still the fact that Kenma is the last person to be caught at one of Bo’s parties.”

Oikawa shrugs. “It’s not like there won’t be a quiet place for him to chill. You could always take him to one of the extra rooms in the house.”

“Oooh,” Bokuto crows, “Then you could be alone with him.”

“I’m sure that’s exactly the situation he wants to be in. All alone in an unknown house trying to escape a party with a total stranger who’s been watching him creepily from across the cafeteria.”

“He might surprise you.”

“What?” Kuroo looks at Daichi in confusion.

He gives a small smile and a helpless shrug. “I’m just saying. This whole party thing… Kenma might surprise you. If there’s anything that we’ve learned, it’s that how you act at school isn’t necessarily who you really are.”

“I guess you’re right,” he sighs, “I’ll ask him if I get the chance tomorrow.”

There’s a series of excited noises from everyone, and he can tell that the teasing is far from over. “That’s enough of that conversation for the night,” Kuroo says cutting them off, “We still have homework to finish, and there’s no way it’s getting done. Early morning study session before school?”

Bokuto groans, but turns towards Oikawa for confirmation. “We’ll be there.”

“I can swing by and give you a ride Kuroo,” Daichi offers, shoving all his school work to the side, finally giving up on pretending to study.

“Sounds like a plan.” Kuroo crams the necessary texts and notebooks into his backpack on the floor so he remembers to take them in the morning.

“Oh,” Bokuto groans, “I forgot to pack clothes. I just have my pajamas and my jacket.”

Oikawa laughs and pats him on the shoulder. “I’m sure that we can find something that’ll fit.” He smirks into the camera, “You guys always leaving all your clothes here anyways.”

“Stop making us sound like we’re flings in your harem,” Kuroo snorts.

“Maybe we’re a friendship harem!” Bokuto exclaims as if not registering the words coming out of his mouth.

“Okay.” Daichi draws out the word like he’s trying to figure out how he got into this situation in the first place. “I think that’s our cue to all go to sleep. We have an early morning tomorrow.”

They all agree, mostly because they’re all in different states of being half-asleep. Bokuto is curled up against Oikawa, who’s also doing his best to keep his eyes open. Daichi’s yawning at regular intervals, and Kuroo’s thinks if he’s not careful he’s going to fall asleep at his desk.

“Love you guys.” Bokuto’s quiet admission comes right as they’re all preparing to hang up. His eyes are closed and he’s got his arms wrapped around Oikawa, who’s still leaning against the headboard.

Oikawa kisses the top of his head, showing a side of himself that Kuroo didn’t believe existed a year ago. He looks back up to the camera and softly smiles, “I love you guys too.” He rests his cheek on Bokuto’s head, staring sleepily at the screen.

“You took the words right out of my mouth.” Daichi leans away from the screen, while Oikawa pouts and gives him puppy dog eyes. “Fine,” he says indulging them, “I also love you guys.”

“Ugh...” Kuroo says with fake distaste, “You guys are way too sappy for me.” His face breaks into a grin a moment later, “Love y’all too.”

He clicks the hang-up button before anyone can say anything else. 

**Spacekawa:** Y’ALL

**Brokuto:** Y’ALL

**Spacekawa:** Y’ALL

**Kuromium:** omfg give me a break

**Brokuto:** wait i have an idea!

**_Four-titude? More like Attitude_** _’s name is now **Friendship Harem!!**_

**ThePrez:** GO TO SLEEP.


	5. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys meet at school for an early morning study session, Kuroo _finally_ talks to Kenma, and the story is concluded (for now).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it - the final chapter in this fic that I thought was going to be 1-2k of Pining!Kuroo, but turned into over 10K of friendship. (Someday I might rewrite the summary so it better reflects the fic). 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading and I hope that you enjoy it!

Kuroo groans has his alarm goes off the next morning. He hits it with the palm of his hand, almost knocking it off the end table. His pillows are squished against his head and feel way too comfortable to motivate him to get up.

His phone buzzes and he digs around for it, squinting at the brightness of the screen when he finally finds it. It’s a text from Daichi saying that he’ll be by to pick him up in 20 minutes. He sighs and pulls himself, reluctantly, out of bed.

Luckily, his morning routine is just digging around for some clothes to wear, attempting to pat down his bedhead before it springs back up again, heating up some frozen toaster waffles and preparing thermos of coffee.

As he’s twisting his thermos closed, his phone buzzes again, alerting him to Daichi’s arrival. Slinging his book bag onto his shoulder and grabbing his waffles to go, he locks the door quietly, trying not to wake up his parents.

The sun hasn’t even peeked over the horizon yet. There’s only Daichi’s car lights and the barest hints of dawn to light his way. He slowly makes his way over to the beat-up, used sedan and knocks on the window to let Daichi know to unlock the doors.

He slides into the passenger seat to see that Daichi looks miraculously awake at this ridiculously early time in the morning. “Morning Kuroo.” He smiles, “How’d you sleep.”

Kuroo blinks blearily. “Wish I’d gotten more.”

“It’s not even that early,” he responds, “I’ve had to be at school way earlier than this.”

“Sorry, we’re all not class president,” Kuroo mutters, with the barest hint of a smile on his face.

“I think that the whole school would be in ruins if any of you were president.” Daichi’s wearing a smirk on his face.

“I can’t handle your sass right now. It’s too early.” Kuroo gently shoves his shoulder at the next stop sign. He yawns again, still trying to blink the sleep out of his eyes, “How are you doing? It felt like you were just dealing with all of our problems last night and that we didn’t check in with you.”

“I’m okay.” Kuroo raises his eyebrows at his lackluster answer. He sighs. “Stressed, I guess. With college apps and scholarships. All the deadlines are so soon.”

Kuroo slouches in his seat. “I get the feeling.”

“I’m surprised you haven’t had any schools contact you.” Daichi throws a curious look his way, “Didn’t you place in the top ten at the National Science Fair for like the last 3 years?” He grimaces, and Daichi easily reads him, his eyes widening. “You _have_ had offers, and you just haven’t told us.”

Kuroo’s heart starts beating faster, and he suddenly feels like he’s screwed everything up. “It’s not like I meant to keep it a secret. I really… I didn’t even realize… Please don’t take it the wrong way—”

“Calm down Kuroo,” Daichi stern voice cuts in, “If you’re reacting like this, you clearly had your reasons. Just tell the group when you’re ready.”

Kuroo nearly collapses against the set in relief, his heart way too active this early in the morning. “Thanks. I wanted to tell you all, I just…” he shrugs, “I don’t know.”

“Whatever you’re thinking, I promise it’s way worse in your head.” Daichi smiles and pulls into the school parking lot. It’s deserted except for Oikawa’s Aston Martin, not even the teachers have arrived yet. He parks his car in one of the spots next to Oikawa’s car, and they look over to see that the other two have fallen asleep waiting for them to arrive.

The two of them get out of the car, slamming the door loud enough to wake Oikawa and Bokuto. They jolt awake and stumble out of their car. Oikawa still has his glasses on, but Kuroo bets that his contact lens’ case is close by, so he can change into them for the school day. If it wasn’t for his huge yawn, he would have never known that Oikawa had a long night. He looks so immaculate in his designer jeans, leather satchel, and expensive jacket.

Bokuto, on the other hand, looks like an amalgamation of all of their styles, his outfit clearly cobbled together from whatever the pair could find at Oikawa’s house this morning. It looks like he’s squeezed into the pair of jeans that Kuroo forgot two weeks ago, one of Daichi’s old t-shirts, and a cashmere scarf from Oikawa’s collection. The other boy clearly had input in the outfit because it somehow color coordinates with Bokuto’s varsity jacket, even if it doesn’t look like anything he would wear on his own.

Kuroo walks over to the the pair of them and pulls both of them into a hug. He feels Daichi joining in from behind, and the four of them melt into it.

“Not to ruin the moment, but it’s freezing cold,” Oikawa says. Kuroo laughs and lets go, while the group slowly meanders their way through the parking lot towards the front doors.

The doors are locked, but Daichi fishes his copy of the keys out of his jacket and lets them in, making sure to lock the doors behind him.

“I still can’t believe that Ukai gave you a copy of the keys. That can’t be legal,” Kuroo says.

“I’m telling you he just forgot to take them back,” Oikawa argues.

Daichi sighs and interrupts them, “We’ve had this conversation a dozen times. It doesn’t matter why I have them, just that I do.”

“It’s pretty great,” Bokuto exclaims, throwing his arms around their shoulders.

They exit the hallway into the library, and take a table in the very back. As they settle in, their eyes towards towards Kuroo, as the defacto leader of the homework brigade. “Just do whatever you need to finish for class,” he says, rolling his eyes.

He quickly skims through the rest of his English homework, before helping Oikawa and Bokuto with their problem sets. He loves their video chats, but in person tutoring is so much easier to do, even if it has to take place at the crack of dawn. He and Daichi quickly review the English reading to make sure they understand it, or that at least they have enough knowledge to _pretend_ they understand it.

By some miracle, they finish 20 minutes before class starts. The library is still relatively empty. From their vantage point peeking between the shelves, it looks like there are only a few stragglers dropping off books and some students cramming for an early morning test.  

“So, when are you going to ask Kenma?” Oikawa asks, packing his notebooks away.

“It’s way too early for this.” Kuroo lays his head on the table, “Do I really have to do it?”

“C’mon K-Cat.” Bokuto slaps him on the back, “You’ve got this.”

“You don’t have to do it. I think you should, but,” Daichi pauses, “… we’ll tease you about, but we don’t actually want to make you uncomfortable.” Kuroo looks up and sees Bokuto and Oikawa nodding in agreement.

“Tetsu-chan, if you want us to drop it we will.”

He sighs and purses his lips. “I want to ask him. I guess I’m just nervous.”

“You’re going to rock this, K-Cat.” Bokuto says, “Just go up to him at lunch and ask him.”

“… I guess that’s the plan,” he says, still feeling uneasy. The rest of them are nodding encouragingly at him.

The group breaks apart as the warning bell rings. They scatter off in different directions. Bokuto and Oikawa head towards their chemistry class, Daichi runs toward the main office to supervise morning announcements, and Kuroo hustles to make it all the way across campus to his first class.

* * *

Kuroo is the last one to get to lunch that day. He drops his stuff on the floor next to Bokuto, placing his lunch on the table at the open seat. As soon as he slides into his seat, they all give him a knowing look.

“Don’t forget you have to talk to Ken-chan~” Oikawa says, resting his chin on his hand and picking at his salad.

“A nickname, already?” Kuroo rolls his eyes, “He’s not even here yet.” Akaashi is sitting alone in Kenma’s usual corner of the cafeteria. He softly bites his lips, while opening his food.

“You’re going to do great!” Bokuto ruffles Kuroo’s hair, noticing his nervousness. Daichi gives him an encouraging smile from across the table.

Kuroo’s about to say something in response, but his breath catches when he sees Kenma walk into the cafeteria. He’s winding his ways through the people, making sure to stay relatively close to the walls. Akaashi greets him, and the two of them start to eat their lunch in comfortable silence. Kuroo feels like he needs to look away before he gets caught.

He glances back at his friends, who are all looking at him with shit-eating grins on their faces.

“There’s your boy,” Bokuto stage-whispers, “Go get him.” He slaps Kuroo on the back in what can only be described as a “bro-slap.”

“You agreed to invite him to the party.” Daichi gently kicks his ankle under the table, “This is your only chance to do it before tonight.”

“Go grace him with presence, Testu-chan.” Oikawa’s smile is smug, but genuine.

He sighs and gives one last look at his friends, before pushing himself out of his seat and into a standing positon. His friends hoot and holler at him, but he ignores them and starts to slowly make his way to the corner of the cafeteria.

Some of the other students look up, curious looks on their faces, has he passes, but for the most part they ignore him. He arrives at Kenma and Akaashi’s table, feeling oddly tall as he towers over them.

“Umm,” he swallows, “ah, hi?”

Kenma giggles and he thinks it’s one of the most beautiful sounds he’s ever heard. He’s so enraptured by it that he completely misses the other boy’s response. “Uh, what was that?”

“I asked if it was a question.” Kenma doesn’t fully smile, but Kuroo sees his lips quirk up in mirth. He nods to the extra seat at the table, “You can sit if you want instead of looming over us.”

Kuroo feels embarrassed and quickly takes the seat across from the two of them. The chair’s legs are slightly uneven and he almost crashes on the floor when he has to compensate for the balance of the broken chair.

Kenma gives another soft giggle, before quieting and hiding behind his own hair. Akaashi hasn’t even glanced at him.

“Sorry about that. I guess I should introduce myself. I’m Kuroo—”

“I know who you are, Testurou.” Kenma’s eyes drift to where his friends are sitting across the cafeteria, “I’m pretty sure that the entire school knows who you are.”

“I still think that they’re one of the best decisions of my life,” Kuroo says smiling, glancing at his friends. He thinks that he sees Bokuto laugh and shove Oikawa, and he imagines that they’re probably talking about him. He can’t help but smile at their shenanigans from across the cafeteria.

“So?” Kenma asks, getting his attention again, “Why are you here? You don’t know us.” Kenma looks personally offended that Kuroo’s invaded his corner of the lunchroom.

“Don’t doubt me. I know who you are too,” Kuroo smirks, “Kenma Kozume.” Kenma blushes and looks down at his lap. Kuroo turns towards the other occupant of the table, “And you’re Akaashi, right?”

The boy looks up at him with calculating, green eyes. He doesn’t answer and instead looks to Kenma with his eyebrows raised.

“What are you doing here, Tetsurou?” Kenma sighs, still trying to hide behind his hair.

Kuroo tries to give a welcoming smile. “Bokuto is holding a party tonight after the game. I wanted to invite you.” He nods towards Akaashi, “Him too.”

Kenma looks unimpressed.

“I know parties are probably not your scene, but Bo’s are usual pretty chill. And of course you could leave at any time…” Kuroo stumbles over his words, “I, ah, just thought it would be fun.”

He shrugs, trying to play off his word vomit as cool.

Kenma squints at him, as if trying to understand his train of thought. “You came here to invite Akaashi and me to a _football_ party?”

“Uhh, well it’s not just a football party?” Kuroo can’t seem to stop talking. “Like Oikawa will be there since it’s being held at his house and Daichi too. Plus, his boyfriend will also probably come.”

“Suga will there?” Kenma asks.

“Yes!” Kuroo nearly shouts, thinking he’s making headway, “Suga is great. I love Suga… well probably not as much as Daichi, because the whole boyfriends thing. And I’m just going to stop talking now.” He wants to run back to his table and forget this entire thing.

Kenma’s laughing into his hand and is about to respond, when Akaashi taps him on the shoulder. “I have to go, but the party might not be such a bad idea,” Akaashi says looking at Bokuto across the cafeteria. He gets up, “Let me know what you decide Kenma.” He gives a nod of acknowledgement to Kuroo has he leaves.

“So this party?”

Kuroo grasps the table in excitement. “You’ll come?”

“I didn’t say that,” Kenma says with a coy smile.

“But you want too, right?” Kuroo smirks back, looking into his eyes.

“Do not.”

“Do too.”

Kenma gives him the stink eye, before he sighs and purses his lips. “I guess it’s a date then, Kuroo Testsurou.” He gets up and collects his things, while Kuroo sits there in shock. Kenma looks down at him, challenge in his eyes, “We’ll see if this party is everything you said it would be.”

With that, Kenma turns on his heel and walks straight out of the cafeteria, without looking back.

 “Oh.” Kuroo gives a wicked smile. “You’re on, Kenma Kozume.” He stands up and makes his way back to his friends.

The three of them go silent as Kuroo approaches the table and reclaims his seat. They’re all staring at him as if they expect him to be the first to speak.

“What?”

Bokuto launches himself at him, and he’s suddenly draped in the weight of the quarterback. “You have to tell us how it went,” he whines.

“It was fine.” A smug grin is on his face.

Bokuto shakes his shoulders back and forth, while Oikawa giggles into his hand. “I don’t think that Bo-chan accepts your answer.” Both Oikawa and Daichi are also looking at him in interest.

Kuroo grins. “He agreed to come.” Bokuto screams and holds out his fist for a fist bump, which he happily returns. Daichi flashes him a smile and Oikawa nudges his ankle under the table.

“I told you had nothing to worry about,” Oikawa says, “and I am _always_ right.”

Kuroo snorts. “Yeah, sure. Let’s just go with that.” He turns to Daichi. “I actually think that Suga helped. They both seemed to perk up when I mentioned he’d be coming.”

“Suga’s friends are many and diverse.” Daichi shakes his head, a smile forming on his face the way it always does when he’s thinking about his boyfriend. “I swear he knows everybody, even one of the freshman freak duo in student council asked me if I was his boyfriend.”

“That’s not that surprising,” Oikawa says, “Even before we all knew each other, Suga never really paid much attention to cliques.”

“Anyways,” Bokuto says, abruptly changing the conversation, “Did they both say they would come?”

Kuroo purses his lips, withholding the information. “You just want to know if your ‘not-crush’ is coming.”

“I just want to make sure Kenma isn’t lonely,” Bokuto looks down at his lap, “Being lonely is worst.”

“You’re a good guy, Bokuto,” Daichi says, and then with a grin adds, “I think Akaashi will think so too.”

“It doesn’t matter if he doesn’t go.” Bokuto mutters, a little red on his cheeks.

Kuroo thinks about the way Akaashi seemed to seek Bokuto out from across the cafeteria. “He looked interested in coming and said he’d go along with whatever Kenma decided.”

“Ooh~” Oikawa says in a teasing lilt, “Looks like both of you might get some alone time with your crushes tonight.”

Kuroo smirks right back. “Don’t forget that your precious Iwa-chan is going to be there too.”

“Why did you have to remind me?” Oikawa blushes, his hands on his face in embarrassment, while the rest of them laugh at his reaction.

“You guys are also coming to the game, too?” Bokuto questions, stuffing a slice of pizza into his mouth.

“Of course Bo.” Kuroo smirked, “Considering you’ve won every game that we’ve all been too, we might even be your lucky charms.”

“Maybe,” Bokuto scoffs, but smiles softly at them all. “I need to go home and grab my gear before getting back early, so I’ll just look for you from the field.”

“Oh,” Daichi looks up from his phone, “I have to be here early to organize the Spirit Squad, so I can give you a ride. As long as you don’t mind stopping at the art store by your house. I keep getting complaints that we’re running low on glitter.”

“You never know when you’re going to need glitter,” Bokuto says solemnly.

Oikawa kicks his ankle. “I can give Testu-chan a ride to the game, which covers all of us.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Bokuto holds out his hand for a group high-five, which they all return even though it makes them feel a little silly.

“Also Bo-chan,” Oikawa pipes up. Bokuto turns, full attention on Oikawa, which makes him shrink away from the sheer intensity of his gaze. “Make sure that your team has some way to get home. I’m not letting the _entire_ football team crash at my house.”

“Of course, Oiks.” Bokuto smiles, “I’ll put it into our group chat right now.” He pulls his phone out of his pocket and starts to tap on it. He hands his phone to Daichi to proofread the text, who makes a few suggestions, and then shoves his phone back into his pocket once the text is sent.

The conversation drifts from there, the four boys falling into comfortable conversation with each other. Kuroo looks up when he can feel a pair of eyes on him and just barely catches a flash of pudding hair disappearing out of the cafeteria. Unconsciously, he makes a small noise, somewhere between a giggle and a scoff.

“What’s up K-Cat?” Bokuto asks, interrupting a story about yesterday’s practice.

“Nothing,” Kuroo murmurs, “I just think that this year might get a lot more interesting.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I plan on writing more for this verse! So if you're interested in reading more, make sure to subscribe to the series.
> 
> Thank you to everyone who stuck it out over the last year as I slowly (really slowly) finished this. I think it's the longest work I've published on AO3 to date and the first one that I tried to post while I wrote it (which, admittedly, didn't work as well as planned.)
> 
> Thank you again for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> Did I write this story just so I could have an excuse to write a Breakfast Club-esque prequel about how the rich kid, resident nerd, class president, and football captain somehow become best friends? ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> Thanks for reading! Hang out with me on tumblr [here!](http://soveryaverageme.tumblr.com/)


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